


from your heart

by godsensei



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slight Descriptive Imagery, Song Bonus, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 16:22:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godsensei/pseuds/godsensei
Summary: “If you pull this off, Lance,” Shiro says, moving his hand so Hunk can begin applying bandage pressure to the wound, “I’ll make out with you.”





	from your heart

**Author's Note:**

> I cross posted this on tumblr last night, but I always feel weird _not_ putting it on ao3 as well, just because I'll feel like I'll somehow lose it on tumblr for whatever reason. I also slightly edited it, just a tad. You can listen (as well as download) to the song that I edited (it's a transition from sweet to eerie) that inspired the beginning scene: [here.](http://picosong.com/wkL4m/#)

“If we pull this off, I want a big ol’ kiss on the lips!” Lance’s voice comes through on the comms, and Shiro shakes his head, downing a sentry on his way down the hall. He’s got the information they need and it’s all a matter of them all meeting outside.

“Buddy, if we pull this off, I swear I’ll french you for 5 minutes!” Hunk says, yelling fiercely amidst the cry of his heavy machine gun. Shiro can just picture him clearing a path of sentries near the exit he's heading for.

“Anyone else? Hunk sounded a _little_ enthusiastic there, so I’d be wary of butting in on his action, but I’m willing to take multiple smooches,” Lance announces, the sharp sound of a sniping bullet punctuating his words. Hunk laughs.

“Try to focus,” Shiro says, though he can’t stop the smile from his voice.

“Shiro, if you want in on this, just let me know!” Lance teases, and Shiro takes out two sentries in his path with his activated arm.

“I don’t know if you could handle it,” Shiro counters, familiar with this flirty game they've been playing, and hears Pidge snort into laughter.

“Killin’ me softly, Shiro!” Lance says, another bullet streaming through the air.

“I’m exiting the building now. Am I clear?” Shiro asks, pausing at the entrance.

“Hold on, let me do a sweep!” Lance says. “You’re clear! Now, now! Hunk?”

“I got ‘em, dude!”

The door swishes open for Shiro, and he’s met with the sight of an open battlefield, lasers flying in each direction. For the most part, Hunk’s heavy gun is doing it’s job, clearing sentry after sentry as they try to stream out of the door. Lance, from a vantage point that Shiro can’t even pinpoint, is taking out the strays that somehow make it out of the line of fire.

“I’m here– ready to go?” Shiro asks, and Hunk begins backing up slowly, gun still working overtime.

“I’ll meet you there!” Lance says, his shots ending abruptly. He’s on the move.

Shiro grabs a Galran gun from the ground, joining Hunk as they make their way to the Green Lion, which Pidge is waiting in, invisible. Only they know where it is.

“Lance?” Hunk asks, sounding nervous as the distance makes way for more sentries to escape his range.

“Almost there, guys! Get inside!”

“ _Go_!” Shiro says, touching Hunk’s shoulder. Hunk immediately draws his bayard back in, and the sentries pile out, advancing. They’ve a whole battlefield to cross, but their shots are awful close to the mark.

Shiro stands, waiting outside of the ship door that Hunk disappears into, aiming carefully at as many sentries as possible.

“Lookin’ good there, big guy!” Lance says appreciatively through his comms, and Shiro feels himself flush, despite the situation. “I’m almost on ya.”

Shiro sees Lance out of his peripherals, running down the hill to his left. He starts sliding halfway down, the hill steeper and more slippery than he probably thought.

“You too,” Shiro teases, and Lance makes a honking noise that Shiro can hear even without the comms.

“Don’t be jealous of these killer moves,” Lance says, and Shiro can see him jogging towards him. He keeps his eyes on their enemies, but is thankful Lance made it down. 

Lance makes another noise, like he's falling. Shiro turns to look at him.

Lance’s eyes widen and, before Shiro can fully comprehend what’s happening, is jumping in front of him, knocking him over.

Shiro _knows_ the sounds that follow.

A bullet hitting a target. The wind being knocked out of someone’s lungs. The ragged, gasping breath that follows the shock. A helmet clatters to the ground. It’s like time slows to a syrupy pace, like he’s had too much to drink and everything is dull. He can barely hear Hunk screaming at him in the comms, the stinging lasers from the sentries pelting close by. He looks down at Lance’s upturned face, and barely comprehends looking into the glassy blue of his eyes, at the shape of his parted lips, the sweat beading his face.

“ _Lance_ –” Shiro chokes out, pulling himself to his feet quickly, the sound rushing back to him. His heart slams against his ribcage, hands slipping in wetness that he can’t bring himself to look at. He drags Lance up, pulls him into his arms, making a break for the open mouth of the Lion.

“ _Get us out of here_!” Shiro yells as he gets to the cockpit, falling to his knees, putting Lance on the ground as gently as he can.

Pidge makes an awful noise when she seems them, but does as she’s ordered, jolting them about as she kicks it into gear.

Hunk is by their side in a second, holding the first aid kit and meeting Shiro’s eyes for a split second. They’re telling him that Hunk isn’t going to give up, so Shiro better not either.

Lance’s eyes are wide open, and Shiro hovers over his face, tapping his cheek as Hunk scrambles to open the medkit.

“Stay with us, Lance-- you with us?” Shiro asks, applying pressure over the bleeding wound in Lance’s stomach with his right hand. 

“Sh-shiro–” Lance slurs, teeth chattering.

“It’s going to be okay. Focus on me. We got the information,” Shiro tries, fumbling for a subject so that Lance doesn’t go into shock, or become unconscious. “Remember what you said before? You said you wanted a kiss.”

Lance looks over at him, gasps when Hunk stabs a needle into his abdomen, some Altean treatment to slow the bleeding around the wound.

“If you pull this off, Lance,” Shiro says, moving his hand so Hunk can begin applying bandage pressure to the wound, “I’ll make out with you.”

“C-competition for H-hunk,” Lance says, smiling up at him. He reaches up, cups Shiro’s face, smearing blood on Shiro’s cheek.

Shiro holds his hand there for him, feeling the minute tremors.

“You’re s-s-so– so– good,” Lance stammers, tears in his eyes.

Shiro doesn’t know what to say to that– feels some wild, desperate sense of things unsaid.

“You’re the good one,” Shiro says, squeezing his hand.

“Not as good,” Lance gets out between his quickening breath. That’s not good.

“ _Katie_!” Shiro yells, and Pidge chokes.

“I’m going as f-fast as I _c-can_!” Pidge yells back tearfully.

“ _Shiro_ ,” Hunk says, lowly.

“Lance,” Shiro ignores Hunk, “stay with us.”

“‘M tryin…,” Lance slurs, eyes unfocusing, chest heaving.

If only Shiro hadn’t looked away– he just wanted to make sure Lance was safe. He’s failed in every capacity as a leader, as a friend.

Not Lance. They’ve… they’ve just gotten to know one another– just started speaking late into the night, just started flirting and skittering around each other like they’re at the Garrison all over again. Lance makes him feel so much less burdened, so much lighter than he has in a long time.

“I’m sure even Allura will give you a kiss if you survive this one,” Shiro tries, and Lance’s eyes close, and he nods weakly, barely there. “Keep your eyes open.”

Lance’s eyes pop back open, and he looks at Shiro like he’s not even there.

“M-my mom,” Lance says, and Shiro refuses.

“There’s the castleship!” Pidge exclaims, and Hunk pushes himself up. There’s a stretcher hanging on the wall of the cockpit, and he takes it down, puts it beside Lance. Shiro nods at Hunk.

“We gotta move you, buddy,” Hunk says, hiccuping. He’s been crying this entire time.

“‘Kay. L-love you guys,” Lance tries to say, but goes silent.

They waste no time moving him onto the stretcher, standing at the ready when Pidge touches down.

\------

 

Shiro stands in the shower, staring at the drain, the diluted pink of Lance’s blood already washed from his body a long time ago. The water has gone luke-warm, and all Shiro can think about is the warmth in Lance’s eyes and the echo of ‘you’re so good’. There was nothing he could do when they got to the medbay, watched as Coran’s eyes became serious. Allura had shoved them out of the way, and both Alteans had used their strength to prop Lance up into a healing pod.

Allura had checked Shiro for injuries, but when he came up free of them, sent him to take a shower before allowing him back in the room.

They don’t know if they got Lance in there on time– that’s why she isn’t letting them back in.

He doesn’t want to walk in there and find out that Lance is dead.

Turning off the water, he dries meticulously, dresses slowly, his limbs aching. He’s bruised everywhere, he’s sure, his muscles screaming at him for holding himself so tensely. He wears something soft and light, foregoing shoes completely.

He feels so old.

He can’t get the sound of Lance being shot out of his head. He wishes Keith were here to talk to him.

“Hunk?” he asks, when he reaches the kitchen. Hunk looks up at him from the counter. He’s clean as well, solemn.

“Hey, Shiro,” he says, wiping his eyes. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he answers automatically, though that’s far from the truth. “How you holding up?”

Hunk looks at him and shrugs, and then his face crumples and Shiro moves around the counter to put an arm over his shoulders.

“It’s okay– Lance is going to be fine,” Shiro assures him, and Hunk nods, choking up. He cries into Shiro’s chest for a while, and Shiro understands. This is Hunk’s best friend. Where would they be without Lance?

“I should’ve been out there,” Hunk says, sounding angry. He pulls away, looking up at Shiro. “I shouldn’t have run.”

“I told you to go,” Shiro reminds him gently, and Hunk shakes his head.

“I just went because I was getting nervous. I shouldn’t have gone.”

“It’s not your fault, Hunk.” Shiro holds his shoulder firmly, forcing him to look at him. “It’s not your fault.”

Hunk watches for a moment, then looks away, dark lashes brushing his cheeks. He nods slowly, conceding.

“You ready to go see him? It’s been an hour. That’s enough time to… That’s enough time.”

Hunk stands, nodding his affirmative.

They’re quiet as they traverse the hallways, but Shiro’s heartbeat seems to become louder and louder the closer they get to the medbay. They both stop outside of the room, and glance at one another before Hunk enters.

Coran looks away from the pod Lance is suspended in, and Shiro’s knees almost give out when he smiles at them tiredly. Allura hangs back, hands clasped.

“He’s going to be ok,” he says, and Hunk hugs Coran, hard.

“The information we got from this excursion was invaluable,” Allura says. “There are multiple fleet locations at our fingertips. We have the element of surprise.”

It’s good news, but what if the cost had been Lance? Shiro just can’t find it in himself to be happy about it.

“I’m so glad you got him here in time,” Allura whispers, tears beading at her eyelashes. “We all know the risks of being Paladins, but when things like this happen… It’s hard to send you back out there.”

Shiro agrees, a million times over. The position of having to be one of the people that sends others into battle will never become familiar. He’ll always find it alien to tell people to lay their lives on the line for something, for _him_.

“He’s a tough old boy,” Coran says. “We’ll monitor him, but he should be out within the next day. All of your quick thinking saved his life.”

“You should both rest. I know it’s hard when Lance is like this, but the best thing we can do is be prepared for another day,” Allura suggests.

Shiro won’t be getting sleep tonight, but he nods, because he can’t look at Lance, pale as he is, white suit stained red from the rapidly healing wound.

 

\------

 

Shiro wakes groggily, opening bleary eyes to Pidge shaking him awake.

“Lance is about to wake up,” she says, and Shiro jolts up, stumbling out of the chair he fell asleep in about… 7 hours ago. The night was long, full of what-ifs, of remembering, of _thinking_.

He felt blessed when his mind finally gave up.

When Lance’s pod comes into sight, he looks so much healthier. The color is back on his face, his bruises and cuts gone. Shiro stands close to the pod, but not in front of it, watching as everyone else arrives. Hunk plants himself right in front of the pod, ready to catch Lance as the timer ticks down.

The vacuum sound of the pod opening is welcoming to hear, and Lance stumbles out, Hunk catching him right on cue.

Everyone is teary, hugging Lance, reprimanding him playfully. Pidge socks him in the shoulder and then squeezes him tightly, warning him not to do it again.

Shiro waits for everyone to have a turn, eyes never leaving Lance. It’s so relieving to see how bright his eyes are, how healthy his skin glows, that he can stand on his own.

Everyone seems to realize Shiro hasn’t said anything, and they part slightly. Lance looks at him, smiling brightly.

Shiro strides forward, intent.

“Shiro–” Lance begins, and Shiro frames his face with his hands and pulls him in for a kiss.

Lance’s eyes widen comically, his hands frozen in mid-air. Shiro closes his eyes, and sucks in a breath through his nose when Lance melts against him, responding in turn.

He kisses Lance slowly, languidly, like there’s all the time in the world for them here. Everyone else doesn’t matter, just the slide of their lips pressing together, the heat of their bodies mingling. They breathe each other in, savoring the moments passing by like molasses.

Lance opens to Shiro, lets their tongues meet, tilts his head so Shiro can taste him further. It’s sweet to feel the sturdiness of Lance against him, exhilarating to know he’s here, alive, and whole.

They pull apart slowly, and Lance blinks those blue eyes open, looking at him like he’s the only important thing in the universe.

“I owed you,” Shiro says, leaning their foreheads together.

“Owed me?” Lance asks.

“For pulling everything off,” Shiro elaborates, and Lance laughs, squeezing Shiro’s biceps.

“You’re so good,” Lance says, and Shiro swallows at the reminder, caressing his face and leaning forward to press his lips against Lance’s again, just to feel them.

“So are you,” Shiro says. “You saved my life.”

“You saved mine, too. Everyone did, but… your voice kept me focused.”

“Don’t do that to me again,” Shiro pleads, closing his eyes. Lance pulls him in, holding him close.

“Can’t promise anything, but if you agree to kiss me all the time, I’ll do my very best.”

Shiro laughs, squeezing Lance tightly.

“Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave me a comment! While I appreciate kudos, constructive commentary helps me get a better feel about what you want to see!


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